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NEW YORK, NY - MAY 14: Actor Adam Sandler accepts award onstage at The 22nd Annual Webby Awards at ... More Cipriani Wall Street on May 14, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Toth/Getty Images for The Webby Awards)
Getty Images for The Webby Award
For nearly two decades, creators have been the unsung architects of internet culture. From the rise of YouTube vloggers in the 2000s to today’s multi-platform content entrepreneurs, creators have consistently driven innovation, conversation and now commerce online. Yet structurally, they remained undefined, often folded into broader categories like "social" or "video" in institutional settings. That changed in 2025.
This year, the Webby Awards introduced dedicated creator categories for the first time in its 29-year history. On the eve of the ceremony in New York, I spoke with Jesse Feister, the newly appointed Executive Director, about why this shift matters and what it means for the broader creator economy. “We’ve always recognized creators,” Feister told me. “But this year, we made the leap to define the format itself.”
Why Now? The Post-Pandemic Maturation of Creation
The catalyst for this recognition is not just popularity. It is evolution. Feister attributes the timing to the maturity of the creator format in a post-pandemic world. “The pandemic was a watershed moment. Creation and consumption scaled rapidly. And now that we’re a few years past it, the format has matured into something that we can actually define.”
That definition hinges on one key differentiator: in creator content, the individual is central to the work. “The person creating the content is core to what the audience is consuming and how they engage with it,” Feister said. This human-centered model distinguishes creator content from more generic or brand-led social media efforts.
In effect, creators are no longer just using the internet. They are shaping its grammar, logic and aesthetics.
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